Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA2: No 4A requirement for SWs being issued with notice to target
- CA6: Denying ptf access to his own bathroom during a search of his house stated 4A claim
- W.D.Mo.: Not exactly following the inventory policy doesn’t make it unreasonable under 4A
- GA: No IAC for not challenging complete cell phone download before search
- DNYUZ: CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Probation / Parole search
W.D.Wash.: No 4A right to personal service of a SW
In this 2254, petitioner’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim that defense counsel didn’t object that the search warrant was not personally served on him wasn’t a constitutional requirement. Also barred by Stone. Witkowski v. Bennett, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126262 … Continue reading
OH9: Parole search of house was valid even though def arrested outside
The parole search of defendant’s place was still valid even though he was arrested outside. State v. Robinson, 2025-Ohio-2216 (9th Dist. June 25, 2025). 2255 petitioner doesn’t show counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress because a suppression motion … Continue reading
GA: Dog sniff during the first part of the stop while computer checks going on didn’t prolong it
“[T]he trial court was entitled to find that the questioning and free-air dog sniff were done concurrently with other tasks related to the mission of the traffic stop and therefore did not impermissibly prolong the stop.” Avant v. State, 2025 … Continue reading
CA6: No property interest shown in blood taken from all infants at birth
The state requiring the taking of some blood from newborn infants for testing and keeping it did not constitute a seizure because plaintiffs proved no property interest. Parental consent is required for any later use. Kanuszewski v. Mich. Dep’t of … Continue reading
DE: There was RS for handcuffing and frisk of visitor during a probation search
Defendant was a visitor in a home subjected to a probation search, and his movements and words justified handcuffing him to maintain the status quo and then patting him down. “Therefore, Roane’s behavior created both reasonable, articulable suspicion regarding both … Continue reading
E.D.Okla.: Entry to look for shooting victim was reasonable
Officer’s entry to look for a potential shooting victim was reasonable on exigent circumstances. United States v. Bird, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112088 (E.D. Okla. May 7, 2025).* Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging defendant’s taking DNA by warrant. … Continue reading
GA: SW affidavit came in at trial; argument waived
Defendant’s argument about admission of a search warrant affidavit at trial was deemed abandoned even for plain error review. Coston v. State, 2025 Ga. LEXIS 123 (June 10, 2025).* (Caution readers: I had this issue just this year: The prosecution … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Lack of a recording for SW application in violation of state law didn’t violate 4A
There was no recording of the showing of probable cause for this state warrant that became a part of a federal prosecution. The lack of a recording isn’t fatal to the showing of probable cause found by the issuing magistrate … Continue reading
MO: Uncorroborated anonymous tip wasn’t PC and GFE doesn’t apply
Uncorroborated anonymous tip: “Because the affidavit relies almost entirely on an uncorroborated anonymous tip and includes no information regarding the tipster’s reliability or the specific details of the anonymous tip, it failed to supply the warrant-issuing judge with a reasonable … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: The court just doesn’t buy that the officer smelled raw marijuana, justifying a search
“This is not to say that Officer Rukamp was lying. The issue before the court is not whether the defense has proved that the officer lied; the issue is whether the government has met its burden of proof. In granting … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Corroborated anonymous tip was enough for probation search
An anonymous tip “here predicted Dodd would engage in future criminal activity and the tipster explained how they knew this information. Bullard then investigated these claims and learned new, non-public information that corroborated many of the allegations.” This was “reasonable … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Polygraph test of SO can be RS for parole search
Defendant’s showing deception on a sex offender polygraph test while on supervision was reasonable suspicion for a parole search. United States v. Dodd, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89064 (W.D. Wash. May 9, 2025):
M.D.Fla.: Being made to leave during search of premises is not a seizure
Defendant was made to leave the premises while a search occurred inside, and that was not a seizure of his person. United States v. Arcadipane, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82688 (M.D. Fla. May 1, 2025). Defendant, a sex offender on … Continue reading
IL: Actual parole search agreement or waiver not required to be admitted into evidence
When relying on a parole search exception, the state does not have to put the specific document into evidence. Here, also, defendant was transferred on parole from Texas to Illinois. People v. Pyles, 2025 IL App (4th) 240220, 2025 Ill. … Continue reading
CA4: No downward variance for 4A violation in revocation of supervised release
Defendant was on supervised release and revoked. No downward variance because the search violated the Fourth Amendment and led to dismissal of that separate case. United States v. Corbett, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 8758 (4th Cir. Apr. 14, 2025). “In … Continue reading
OH5: CIs’ reliability shown by other facts
The CIs’ statements weren’t individually supported by a showing of why they were reliable. Instead, corroboration came from the rest of the detail in the affidavit. State v. Shannon, 2025-Ohio-1224, 2025 Ohio App. LEXIS 1188 (5th Dist. Apr. 7, 2025). … Continue reading
D.Haw.: PC not required for a probationer’s arrest
An officer was alerted to a probationer with an arrest warrant and found the probationer’s car. Running the LPN produced a hit on the warrant. Probable cause is not required for a probationer’s arrest; just a reasonable basis. Burns v. … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: Non-parolee was subject to search with parolee in hotel room with RS drugs were being sold
Defendant was in the hotel room of another who was on parole and there was at least reasonable suspicion to believe was dealing drugs from the room. Search of the room was valid as to the defendant guest. United States … Continue reading
D.Me.: Probationers have greater incentive to dispose of criminal evidence
“Balanced against this diminished expectation of privacy is the government’s heightened interest in evaluating and monitoring the conduct of persons on supervised release. Id. The United States Office of Probation and Pretrial Services has a legitimate, important interest in ‘rehabilitation … Continue reading
Cal.1st: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to DL suspensions
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to DL suspension proceedings. Kazelka v. Cal. Dep’t of Motor Vehicles, 2025 Cal. App. LEXIS 196 (1st Dist. Mar. 27, 2025). Officers responded to a shots fired call in a Bronx apartment and entered and … Continue reading